High Tech News and Information for Southern California

Wednesday, October 31, 2012GRP Partners Hits $148.6M In New Fund, GRP IVGRP Partners, the venture capital firm managed by Steven Dietz, Brian McLoughlin, Yves Sisteron, and Mark Suster, seems to be making good progress on its newest fund, GRP IV, according to a regulatory filing from the firm filed Wednesday. The regulatory filing indicates GRP has raised $148.6M in committments for the $200M fund, which is still open to investors. GRP Partners has managed some high profile exits -- the latest looking to be an IPO at Qualys in September--and also in an investor in s (More info...)

ServiceNow Files For Secondary IPO OfferingSan Diego-based ServiceNow is looking to sell $300M in a secondary IPO offering, according to a filing made by the company Wednesday. The firm said it will not receive any proceeds from the sale by the selling stockholders. ServiceNow went public in June, pricing at $18.00 per share; the firm is now trading around $30.65 per share on the NYSE as NOW. The firm's major stockhoders are JMI Equity (44.64% ownership) and Sequoia Capital (19.68%). The secondary is being underwritten by Morgan Stanley (More info...)

Arborbridge Helps International Students With Test PrepHoping to help foreign students better prepare themselves to get into U.S. colleges, a new, Santa Monica startup, ArborBridge, has recently begun to ramp up its online tutoring service for the standardized SAT and ACT tests. Arborbridge, founded by Tim Urban and Andrew Finn, connects those foreign students with one-on-one, live online SAT and ACT test preparation help from tutors. The company recently bolstered its efforts, hiring a new Director of International Business Development, Josh Stephe (More info...)

SendGrid Ties Into Azure StoreSendGrid, the provider of email infrastructure for application developers which has operations in Anaheim, said today that it has launched on the new Windows Azure Store. SendGrid said it would offer its email infrastructure management services through Microsoft's new store, which is aimed at application developers using Windows Azure, to help them connect into third party technology. SendGrid--whose three founders met at UC Riverside--handles transactional email delivery for application provide (More info...)

Insights and Opinions: Storytelling and Startup FundraisingYou've got your elevator pitch, but how much are you really engaging potential investors? For our Insights and Opinions section this morning, Steve Reich tells why it's as important to tell the whole story of your startup to close the deal with investors.

Every startup has an elevator pitch, but what comes next? Do potential investors' eyes glaze over when you get beyond the quick, punchy one liner and try to REALLY describe your company? Successful fundraisers tell a complete, engaging sto (More info...)

Thesan Pharmaceuticals Raises $16MSan Diego-based Thesan Pharmaceuticals said today that it has raised $16M in a Series A round, for the firm's developing of treatments for dermatological disorders. The firm said the funding was co-led by Novo Ventures and Novartis Venture Funds. Thesan is headed by Gordon Foulkes, and said it has licensed its products from the University of California, Irvine, out of the laboratory of Professor Daniele Piomelli, who is Louise Turner Arnold Chair of Neurosciences at UCI. Foulkes is the former CE (More info...)

Accelerator To Exit In 14 Months, With Eli Portnoy of ThinkNearThere's been a sudden surge in accelerator in Southern California, looking to help get startups off the ground and funded. But, do they really help? For ThinkNear, it looks like the whole process paid off in less than two years, after the Los Angeles company went from the TechStars accelerator just last June, to a healthy acquisition by TeleNav earlier this month for $22.5M. To learn more about how the company went from just an idea at an accelerator to a healthy exit, we spoke with founder Eli (More info...)

DogVacay Launches Pack Leader ProgramDogVacay, the online peer-to-peer marketplace which lets people find and offer up pet sitting services, is recruiting its pet sitters to help market the service with a new program. The Los Angeles startup, which was founded by Aaron and Karine Nissim Hirschhorn, said its new Pack Leader program lets DogVacay hosts promote their services with their own URL and coupon code. The company said hosts can help promote their own home dog boarding business, offer up their own coupons, and more, plus will (More info...)

Greentoe Launches Ecommerce MarketplaceGreentoe.com, a new online e-commerce marketplace, wants to let consumers set their own pricing for electronics products. The Los Angeles startup said it has launched a site which lets users set their own price on cameras, TV, home audio equipment, and other consumer electronics, letting them propose prices they will pay for those items and letting retailers big on those offers. The new company is led by Joe Marrapodi, who was most recently Vice President of Digital at LBI Entertainment, and als (More info...)

NantWorks' Firm Tensorcom Ships Wireless ChipTensorcom, one of the companies which is part of NantWorks, the technology development firm owned by billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, said today that it has demonstrated a ultra low power, high speed multi-gigabit wireless chip. The chip, which is aimed at mobile devices, transmits data at 2.5 gigabits per second and only takes 100 miliwatts of power. Nantworks said the new chip is aimed at being used in mobile phones and tablets, and meets WiGig/IEEE 802.11ad requirements. It's unclear when Nan (More info...)

BuQu Tech Plans Line Of Charging AccessoriesCamarillo-based BuQu Tech, which is a subsidiary of Battery-Biz, said today that it is planning a line of magnetic charging systems to make it easier to charge iOS and Android smartphones. BuQu Tech said its Magnetyze magnetic charging system will allow users to charge their smartphones and eliminate the need for multiple cords and cradles. The firm has rolled out a protective case for the Apple iPhone 4/4S, which also works with a charging stand which the firm says charges that phone using magn (More info...)

Acacia Research Names New VPNewport Beach-based Acacia Research, the patent licensing firm, said today that it has named David Witt as Vice President of Acacia Research Group LLC. Witt joins the firm from Texas Instruments, where the company said he was involved in architecture and development of TI's OMAP2, OMAP3, and OMAP4 application processors. Witt has also served at AMD, Analog Devices, VIA Technology and Motorola. Acacia Research acquires and aggressively licenses technology patents.

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Ventura Ventures Technology Center (V2TC) - Business IncubatorThe Ventura Ventures Technology Center (V2TC) is a high-tech business incubator located in downtown Ventura, CA. V2TC offers a creative environment where high-tech start-ups and entrepreneurs can network, brainstorm, and grow their business. Work-spaces are affordable, flexible and scalable in order to allow companies the ability to manage their growth effectively and efficiently.